An Infiltration
by Eisfee
Summary: When Flandre forgets to bring her clarinet home, it's up to a ragtag, cobbled-together cadre to retrieve it.
1. The Premise

When Sakuya placed the main course onto the table, which possessed the form of something less appetizing than what her housemates usually expect as a dinner, it was only Sakuya who remained with a smile; "I decided to do something Western tonight," left this smile with a slightly vain tone.

Regrettably, Remilia's honesty was the sentence's first visitor. "Sakuya…what is this?"

Her sister, similar in honesty, could only gaze blankly at the charred mass imposingly placed before her.

"It's meatloaf, Remilia. It's been a while since I made it, but I think it's time to bring it back!"

"…have you ever made meatloaf before?"

"Of course I have," as she sat down. "What did I just say?" She turned her attention otherwise. "Patchouli."

Unaware of the monolithic slab before her, Patchouli was attended to yet another video game.

"Patchouli, how many times have I said 'No gaming at the dinner table' before?"

"Is dinner ready yet?"

"Well, yes; had you not been playing whatever game that is, you would have known that dinner is, in fact, ready."

"Okay, just let me save, and…" After becoming aware of the meatloaf, she developed a stare similar to the one born from Flandre's empty eyes. "Is this…what…what is this?"

"It's meatloaf, Patchouli." She moved on towards her announcement. "Now everybody, I know today was very busy for all of us, so I wanted to make something filling; we've got a big Friday ahead, so let's enjoy this and talk about our day."

Meiling didn't really care about the unappetizing food as long as she got to explain first, with her slightly childish vigor bearing witness. "Oh! Can I tell you about what I did?! It's so interesting!"

"Sure, go ahead."

"Well, I got a package, right? And I didn't fall asleep for the fourth day in a row…actually that's it; it didn't rain, so that was good also," she said, progressively realizing that her day truly wasn't all that exciting.

Sakuya didn't really seem to mind. "In any event, you should try to drink some coffee while you're by the gates; I really think that'll help. Please cut this meatloaf and pass some to everyone."

While Meiling happily did so, Sakuya's uncommon pairing of both enthusiasm and benevolence for their rather moronic gatekeeper halted Remilia from contributing her day's events right away. "…so Flandre, school was good, right?"

"Yeah! We did a lot of things today!"

"Well, reading; it seems as if Keine wants us to read more antiquated books; it's making the reading sections of the day feel more like nap time with each passing hour…" This slight rant was enough to distract her from the meatloaf's visceral appearance, as she was soon eating her piece of it. "This…is actually not that bad."

Sakuya decided to ignore her brutal honesty and advanced the same inquest towards Patchouli and Koakuma; Patchouli's reply carried remnants of frustration from being forced to quit her gaming: "…I played this MMO that's been really popular lately until about…noon, and then I played the game that you just told me to put away. Koakuma, what did you do?"

"Oh! I…what did I do…I think I…I just read a book."

Sakuya's smile was unwavering. "How wonderful, everyone!"

Remilia couldn't quite fathom Sakuya's happiness in the face of Meiling's frivolous attitude, Patchouli's thrilling tale of spending multiple daylit hours sitting in front of various screens, and Koakuma somehow finding it interesting to spend an entire day reading a book, especially when Remilia herself couldn't even bear an hour of such a boring endeavor; had she not been taken aback by the surprising flavor behind the meatloaf's visage, she would have gone on with more of her occurrences at school, or snidely adding to the above comments. She decided to eat more of Sakuya's meatloaf instead, which was progressively becoming more palatable; Flandre agreed similarly with this progression as written.

Patchouli was next to contribute in a manner of words and not chewing. "So Meiling, who's the package for? Did my copy of-"

Meiling interrupted her with a reading of the package's label. "It's actually for Sakuya."

"Oh. Really?"

"Yeah, and the box has some writing on it! About 'enhancing your life' with-"

Sakuya, as if the following action was to be executed within a span of time equating to about zero seconds (give or take), starkly snatched the package out of her hands; certainly, all were silent, and all eyes present were focused towards the snatcher, who stood before them futilely concealing something about which everyone else already knew. "Everyone, enjoy your dinner…I'll just put this in my room, and I'll be right back…"

As she sheepishly exited the dining room, Patchouli couldn't help but feel a small twinge of guilt; nonetheless, it easily departed on account of her being able to recall that Meiling was the one who chose to announce the package's contents that supposedly "enhance"; whether she was oblivious or deliberate in her announcement is something that will remain eternally unanswered, and similar to how a tide rises incrementally, they resumed their evening meal. "So, Remilia, do you have any homework for tonight?"

"Oh, we have some, but I already practiced, so I'm ready for it."

Patchouli then glanced towards Flandre, which gave the former a feeling of unease; this was based on all of the times she asked Remilia of her homework, and then all of the times she responded "I did it in advance," and then how the other Scarlet, without fail, knew nothing of the homework, which either resulted in tears or anger, and then a feverish cram session, all alike in origin from whenever Patchouli placed herself into a discussion of this topic. Fortunately, Flandre was too happy eating the tasty meatloaf to hear Remilia's response.

Unfortunately, Remilia was one to worry about her sister's academic planning abilities. "Flandre, are you ready? You practiced, right?" Remilia soon became aware of the horror she had just brought about, as she could see Flandre's happiness faltering.

"Practiced? For what?"

"You know, tomorrow's the clarinet test; we have to do a song."

"…what?"

"Keine wants us to play a song for her; we've been spending some time on it, but she told us to practice at home every night."

Patchouli's question this time resulted in tears; despite what one may think, this is the better of the two outcomes when dealing with someone who can destroy anything.

"But…I didn't…I forgot…"

"Flandre! You didn't practice?! Why not?! We have to play a song for Keine tomorrow! Don't you remember?"

"No! I practiced, but I left my clarinet at school today!"

"…you forgot your clarinet?"

"We have to go back and get it! So I can practice before bed!"

"…you…what? We can't go back to the school; they close it after we all leave! Just borrow mine."

"Eww! I don't want to use your clarinet! Gross!"

As Remilia couldn't decide whether or not to be insulted, she was visibly stunned before advancing with this obstacle in the argument. "…you don't want to use my clarinet?"

"No! I don't want to get sick!"

"…we share the same toothbrush, and you don't want to use my clarinet. Seriously?"

"That's different! You wash it before I use it! You can't wash a clarinet."

"You can't wash a clarinet."

"No! I thought you would know that! You're supposed to be the older sister!"

"…Keine taught us how to clean the clarinets; you have to do it once every week. If you have never cleaned it since we got them almost…a year ago, I think borrowing mine carries less of a risk of getting sick."

"But you can't get sick from your own mouth!"

"…you…you can't get…okay, so you're saying that even if I scrub my clarinet with soap and water, or with disinfectant, you still won't practice with mine?"

"Yes!"

"You would rather hike back to the school, inexplicably break into it, somehow find your clarinet, sneak out without getting caught, and practice with far less time to sleep than the amount you would have if you just borrowed mine?"

"Yes!"

She turned to her table. "Am I the only one who sees how stupid this would be?"

"I, for one, think it'll be fun!"

Remilia decided to listen to Meiling, holding back only due to the commonplace knowledge of the latter being incapable of submission to logical argumentation and an idiot.

"Don't you think it'll be fun? We'll be like secret agents on a mission! Like breaking into a museum to steal a diamond, or assassinating a mob boss! It'll be awesome!"

"Have you been watching spy movies again?" Remilia asked through her own sighing exhale.

"Think about it! This'll probably be the only time in our dull lives that we won't be ordinary, boring people!"

"Well, you seem to be forgetting about the fact that this is real life; we could get in trouble or injured. And we won't be able to sleep as long. And…am I forgetting something?"

Flandre was, unfortunately for her sister, in agreement with Meiling about this. "Remi, it'll be fun! Come on!"

"I think you're being too gullible; remember, you're listening to the person who thought that tomatoes were vegetables before Sakuya told her."

Meiling was next with the truth. "Actually, I still think they are! Why do they taste so bad, right?"

"Exactly!"

As her sister agreed with an opinion contrary to a fact rooted in established science, Remilia sat in disbelief as she watched the inane bond grow between the two of them. Furthermore, she remembered that once Meiling has her mind set on something, it will be completed absolutely without fail, regardless of the idea's value; this is why their mansion's entrance now has a gate akin to that of a railroad crossing's; this is why their clock tower permanently reads "12:00", because Meiling thought that the mansion should always be the "first thing that happens today", in her own words. Would it actually be a better option for Remilia to channel her intelligence into going with them? It was obvious that they would be retrieving Flandre's clarinet with complete disregard of Remilia's opinion on the matter; if she were to go with them, there just might be a lesser chance of anything going wrong.

Patchouli cared nothing of this emergent event, as Sakuya still had not returned, and if Sakuya is not around Patchouli, she cannot stop Patchouli from playing her game, which is a fact as obvious as the sky being blue.

As she was devoting her attention to it totally, Koakuma couldn't help but interrupt. "Patchouli."

"What?"

"Are you hearing this?"

"No. What?"

"Flandre forgot her clarinet at school."

"So? She can just borrow Remilia's."

"But…Meiling's going to take them to the school to get it back."

"…get out, they're not going to do that."

"But…they're leaving right now."

As Patchouli decided to humor her by a look to confirm, she could see them leaving their dining room; the fact that Koakuma was correct prevented Patchouli from speaking until their leave became final. "…do we tell Sakuya?"

"I…I don't know."

Patchouli felt a pressing weight: Sakuya would now have to be told that Hong Meiling had just taken her precious Scarlets to begin a dangerous adventure into the evening, and soon, the night; such a revelation would never leave her precious video game collection in any better condition than that of an obliterated and finely grained powder due to Sakuya's assured wrath.


	2. The Reinforcements

Marisa's front door buckled from a barrage of knocking; to make things only worse, its opposing face stood as reward for the chosen one who can successfully traverse her collection of knickknacks and miscellany wantonly splayed about the floors, as if they are the results from the razing of an unused factory. Marisa woke up from the knocks in a foggy malaise, due to her downing of all manners of energy drinks; as she had been helping Nitori beat a particularly trying video game boss, the needed effort (not to mention all their yelling and arguing during the boss fight itself) sapped from them so much energy that the crash from the drinks had sent them to an obligated rest. After spending far too much time awakening to then spend far too much time navigating her obstacle course to the door, she, at long last, opened it to reveal the three adventurers; as she was not expecting visitors, especially Meiling and the Scarlets, she was understandably perplexed. "…may I help you?"

"Yes, Marisa," Meiling spoke to her similarly to one playing the lead role in an action film, "You can most certainly help us! Where is your friend that has all the gizmos and stuff with her?"

"…'gizmos and stuff'...Nitori? She's here, actually; you need her for something?"

"Why yes! We are going to retrieve Flandre's clarinet from the school!"

"Hmm, breaking into a school at night…what do you need a clarinet for?"

"You are certainly very inquisitive! Flandre has to study for a music quiz tomorrow, and she would like us to get it back."

"Is Remilia on board with this? Doesn't seem like something she'd like to take part in."

Remilia, although there with them, was trying to be as absent from the situation as possible; behind Meiling, she could only muster a sibilant "…I don't want to talk about it."

"Well, when you gotta get your clarinet back, right? I'm guessing you need her tech to get it and escape without a trace, yes?"

"Exactly!"

"Okay, I'll get her; be right back."

Given the aforementioned collection of knickknacks and miscellany, the three had to remain by her open door for a fair length of time; had it not been for the rug on the entryway section of the floor, the junk behind this door would have slammed it closed with no issues whatsoever. Within the forest surrounding Marisa's house, Gensokyo's sun for the day was nearing its final stage, beckoning the insects and frogs below to prepare their music for the humid night to arrive, and the mild wind that ebbed and flowed about served to make the wait even more awkward, other than its more expected duty of rustling the flora into the air.

After the span, Nitori approached them, in a stumbling manner resulting from the lack of footpaths, before falling out from the threshold. "I…understand that I can avail you all of my services, yes?"

"You most certainly can!" Meiling responded.

"I do believe that I can help you...but what's in it for me?"

As they were unable to answer Nitori for a while, nothing happened for another graceless length, ending when Remilia decided to upstage them. "…what do you want?"

"I want Marisa to come with us."

"Why?"

"Because it'll be dark and scary and I need her to protect me."

"…why?"

"I must admit, I've never fully gotten over my fear of the supernatural; ghosts, especially."

"But, Nitori…you're a kappa."

"And?"

"Kappas are supernatural beings."

"…well, duh; of course I'm not afraid of kappas, seeing as I am one. You are a vampire, so this is like saying you're afraid of vampires. Are you afraid of vampires because you are one?"

"…no?"

"Well, I'm not a ghost; ghosts are freaky scary and you can see through them. I don't want to mess around with ghosts."

"…how does Marisa factor in with this…fear of yours?"

"Are you joking? Look at her; ghosts aren't going to mess with Marisa. She'll protect us in this adventure of ours. Well, me; I don't know about the rest of you."

Marisa immediately could be seen standing with the maximum amount of pride possible; could it be that the two rehearsed as if they were certain that this exchange would actually happen?

Remilia, however, was nonplussed. "Okay…I'm done with this. Meiling."

"Yes?"

"You're the lead, I guess, in this stupid adventure of ours; what do you think of Marisa tagging along?"

"Well…I do need to give it some thought."

"…are you…serious?"

"This is going to be a clandestine operation, after all; we should only take with us who we need."

Remilia, despite being among others, felt absolutely solitary from the dearth of reason. "You are really not just going to say 'Yes', are you?"

"Dear Ms. Scarlet, you must think of the mission that lies before us! Marisa could be to us an asset, but she might just as easily be a hindrance, no?" It was obvious that she was channeling more of her queue of action movies than of reality.

Marisa's reply was, strangely, in tune. "She's right, you know." As Marisa went on, Remilia hid her face with her palms in disbelief. "Who the hell knows what'll happen? I might fall down the stairs or something; it'll be dark, obviously, so I need to watch for those pesky elevation changes, right? And you know I'm not exactly on the quiet side, what with my resplendent voice and all."

After hearing this, Meiling had made her decision. "Marisa, I have taken it upon myself to assent in regards to your request to participate in this endeavor; you may assist."

What did Marisa say as a response? "Oh. Cool."

Remilia had a response of her own. "How about this: I think that Alice's house is around here somewhere; I can just hang out with her, a more…normal person, until you all finally agree on what to do. Sounds good? Great." And with that, she began to depart.

"Remi! Wait! Don't go!"

Remilia decided to listen while her sister continued.

"We need you to be with us!"

"Flandre, this whole thing is a bit too much for me, I hate to say."

"But…I need you to be with me…"

"…you all really need me to get the clarinet back?"

"Yes!" and similar responses came from the group.

Nitori walked away from them with a request to speak to Remilia privately; as they agreed, the two placed themselves just outside of what an earshot can retain, and she continued with the older Scarlet. "Remilia…believe it or not, I've been in these sorts of search parties before."

"…really?"

"Yep, and in my experience, the party always separates itself into roles."

"…like what?"

"Well, let's start with me: I'm the brains; I have the technology and the experience to make this operation even possible to begin with. I've got a laptop, for starters, to hack into any security systems that might be present. And night vision goggles to, you know, see in the dark, among other such tools of my possession. Meiling and Marisa are the brawn; while I doubt their use for actual enemy encounters, seeing as how we'll be in a hopefully empty building, they are the muscle just in case we need it. Do you know your role?"

"…what is it?"

"You are the level-headed one. Think about it: tell me how many stupid experiences you've had from those two."

"…far too many…"

"Exactly. They…are not too smart; but, you must concede that their eagerness is what makes adventure happen, doesn't it? You, the calm stoic of our party, serve to reel them in."

"…"

"If you don't come along with us, we won't have the cautionary, logical answers to any situations that'll inadvertently come up, and they won't be able to make snap decisions, because that's not their role. Dare I say, you might be our most important member, perhaps?"

"…I don't know what to say."

"Your nature does possess a flaw, unfortunately: from the beginning, I can only assume that you were thinking about what might go wrong. Is that correct?"

"…it is."

"That is from how you think; you would rather not do this on account of the immense risk involved…especially for something as trifling in the grand scheme of things as a woodwind instrument."

"…yes."

"Well, those two blockheads could really use some of your reserve to make the mission a success, don't you think? Their hearts are set on getting that clarinet back, because they're only thinking about making your sister happy, not what might go wrong. We need an equilibrium. You serve to balance them out."

"…"

"What do you say?"

From the conversation, the other members stood without a word as Remilia walked up to them. Nitori followed her, certainly, but at a fair separation to ensure that Remilia spoke for herself; nevertheless, her smile was as obvious as the evening sun behind the treetops of the forest, as though she knew for certain what Remilia would say.

"All right; let's do it."


	3. Patchouli's Lie

Patchouli stood in front of Sakuya's bedroom door, fighting against the obvious waves of anxiety: how could she enter her room with such a look on her face, one undeniably displaying abject dread? How would she lie, if that is decided (or even necessary), and enshroud it from Sakuya's impeccable insight, and how would she contend with whatever her reaction should be, all while holding the lie together? By this door, she decided to go with what shall happen and knock on it, albeit with feebleness. The response was of equal feebleness:

"…come in."

As Patchouli did so, she could only note that Sakuya was sitting near the edge of her bedside, with her head downwards and almost in contact with the still-unopened package, cradling it as if it were a baby. Sakuya was certainly aware that Patchouli had entered her room, but made no effort whatsoever to make eye contact. After some seconds, which seemed more at home being termed "hours", Sakuya pulled her head up and began, facing the adjacent wall and not her visitor.

"Yes, Patchouli?"

"I…I wanted to check on you; you never came back for dinner, so-"

"I just wanted to be enhanced, Patchouli."

It was at this time when Patchouli realized that their eyes had met. If silence could ever be palpable, it was at this scene where such a chilling feeling would reside. "…what?"

"Is that one, simple request too much for one to ask in this cruel world?"

"…are you doing all right?"

Sakuya pulled her eyes away. "I'll…be fine, eventually. Is dinner over? Did everybody like the meatloaf?"

"Yes! Everyone loved it. In fact, I…was just going to start cleaning up."

"…really?" This was spoken eagerly, and not with sarcasm.

Patchouli continued with lilting and hesitant tones. "Yes! Just…just stay in here and…rest. We'll take care of the dishes."

"…thank you, Patchouli; that will help me a lot."

In these next seconds, Patchouli's mind, wary and uncertain, led her following words further into these uncharted waters. "I…should tell you something."

"Yes? What is it?"

"Meiling…took Remilia and Flandre to the convenience store…to get some…ice cream."

"Really?"

"Yes! It's because…they both wanted some ice cream."

"But we have ice cream."

"They were very…specific about wanting ice cream cones."

"Meiling took them?"

Patchouli's lie, as all that are improvised, must battle (to some degree) the maker's fear of it being unraveled. "…yes; we didn't want to bother you, and you know Flandre doesn't stop yelling unless she gets ice cream, right? They should be back in about…" Thankfully for Patchouli, her inability to drum up a time span went unnoticed, due to Sakuya's defeatist attitude from the aforementioned package.

"It shouldn't be too much trouble," was Sakuya's response. "I've been there far many times to count, even with Meiling, and it isn't too far away. They'll be fine, as long as they get back before nighttime."

"Yes! Yes…they will…they told me so…so…I'll get started on the dishes. Just stay and rest. All right?"

"Okay…thank you."

"Sure! No problem…"

As Sakuya returned to her silent lamentations over the package, Patchouli closed the door, feeling a simultaneous sense of victory and anxiety; while she had just resigned herself to dish duty, hopefully the adventurers would return soon, or give up and come back early, or Sakuya would be too crestfallen to leave her room and instead retire to bed for the night, giving them all the time they would need; unless they were to be hurt or caught there, which would obligate Sakuya's involvement, and then a swift and certain punishment in retribution of Patchouli's lie in which she found herself ensnared. She decided to let the dishes distract her from her rampant mind.

Koakuma, being the reliable assistant that she is, had already began warming the water from the faucet as Patchouli stepped into the kitchen. "So, what happened?"

"I…had to make something up."

"Really?"

"Yes; basically, I said that Meiling took them to the convenience store instead of…wherever the hell they're going. To get ice cream."

"…why?"

"Koakuma," she snapped, "What do you want me to say? What would you have done in that situation?"

"…I…"

"…I'm sorry…let's just clean up as much as possible, so she has no reason to leave her bedroom, okay? More than the dishes: table, counters, putting the leftovers away. Everything."

"…okay."


	4. Entry

As the five neared the school, they couldn't help but notice the beauty of their setting: with the evening light glancing off the building's front face and its myriad windows creating a scene fit for a golden hour photograph, and the ground near the courtyard shimmering from this light, the fact they were about to commit trespass was rather ironic in retrospect. Remilia still felt some waves of anxiety, but the fact that the school, which was such a familiar sight to her only at the established and repeated time frame of the weekday morning and the following afternoon, looked so different in the waning light placed her at ease, albeit slightly. Nitori, on the other hand, was far more wary, searching as a prairie dog would for anyone that might act as security. Upon the completion of this lengthy survey, she turned to the others.

"Okay, so it looks like there's no one else here, but honestly, we can't be 100 percent sure about this." She placed her baggy, oversized backpack onto the ground and opened it. "We should gear up."

Meiling, with her "What gadgets do you have for us?" ringing with annoying confidence, was living out her dream of being a movie star.

"Well, I have these earpieces; should we get separated, you all can talk to me over them. So let's put them on."

They did so.

"And I have these night-vision goggles, as it looks like it'll be night soon, so a pair for each of you." As she passed them out, she couldn't help but notice Meiling's disappointment. "Is something wrong?"

"No…I mean, is that it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I was hoping you had some invisibility cloaks, or at least some kind of weapon."

"…like what?"

"A stun grenade, at least."

"…as hard as it may seem for you to believe, even the great Nitori Kawashiro doesn't have cloaking devices."

"You're just saying that because you forgot to pack them."

"…moving on to your stun grenade request, I should remind you that we are trying to retrieve an object, and not to rescue an individual. And, you do know that we should do this without harming anybody, right?" As she was saying this, she was also trying her best to ignore Meiling's newly-formed pouty face.

"…but it would be cool…"

"How about this: we can give each other code names. Would that help you out with this?"

"…I guess…"

"Good. What do you want your code name-"

"Red Dragon," Meiling interrupted with a speed resembling one that would be faster than light. "I want to be 'Red Dragon', please."

"…fine. What about you, Marisa?"

"Me? Umm…I guess 'Yellow Spark' would be all right by me."

"And I'll be 'Master Blue'. Would that work?"

"No!" Remilia had had enough of this. "Can we get this over with and not sit around making up names for ourselves?!"

"But it'll be-"

"No, Meiling; if I just called you 'Meiling', it would take me less time than saying 'Red Dragon'! And, I must say, I'll probably forget your made-up name anyways and just call you 'Meiling' out of habit, since that is…actually your name! Same with calling you 'Master Blue', and you 'Yellow Spark'! Those are not your names, and it'll just make things stupider than they already are!"

After ending this fit, Remilia found out that all of them were either confused or concerned, with the exception of Meiling, who looked like she was going to cry.

"…fine…I will be 'Scarlet One'. Flandre, do you want to be 'Scarlet Two'?"

"Sure!"

"All right. We all have our code names now. Can we press on, please?"

Heading near the grounds themselves, they became aware of the brick wall surrounding the school; they would have to go over it, or the closed gate.

"So, maybe we won't have to climb the wall; let's see how bad the lock is." Nitori realized that the gate was electronically sealed with a keypad, rendering her legendary lockpicking skills useless. "Meiling, you are so nice and tall; care to throw us over the gate?"

"Wait. I am not being thrown over the gate like a-"

Remilia's protesting would soon be halted, as the next event was Remilia "being thrown over the gate like a-"; she next threw Flandre and Nitori over it with a similar violence, and concluded with Marisa, who required a longer amount of time to be flung across the gate and to the unforgiving ground waiting on the opposing side. The four were understandably stunned while Meiling herself climbed over.

"What…did I say? What is wrong with you…"

"But Remi," Flandre replied, "That was so fun!"

"…you…are just saying that because you landed on your feet."

"It's not my fault for being graceful!"

"Everyone," Nitori whispered, "I hate to break it to you, but need I remind you to be quiet? What we're doing is less than permissible, you know."

Unfortunately for them, Meiling did not believe in putting her phone on any setting other than the "Ring like an antiquated telephone very loudly" volume level. As she answered her latest call, she had to fight with Nitori's continued imperatives to keep it down. "Yello?"

"Hey, it's Sakuya."

"Oh! What's up?"

"Listen, I know you're busy, but can you get me some frozen mochi before you come back? I need something sweet."

"Certainly!"

"Anyways, I'm going to get ready for bed. Be sure to get back before nighttime. Remilia and Flandre have school tomorrow."

"I'll make it happen, captain!"

"…yes, and one more thing."

"Yes?"

"Thank you for doing this; I really feel out of it and need to rest, so it was nice of you to step up and help out."

"Oh, no problem; that's what I do! See you later!"

"Goodbye."

As she hung up, Remilia couldn't help but be concerned. "…who was that?"

"That was Sakuya."

"What?!"

"She wants me to buy her some mochi after we get Flandre's clarinet back. So selfish, always thinking about herself while we're out here risking our lives…"

"Does she know about this?!"

"Sure she does; she wanted us to stop by the convenience store after we're done here, after all. See, Remilia? She's fine with it; you're the one that's getting all worked up over nothing."

"…I highly doubt…any of that."

"Everybody," Nitori interrupted, "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I noticed something while Meiling was making her phone call."

"What is it?"

To explain, she led them to one of the entry doors, motioning to an array of buttons and switches affixed to the nearby wall with a fairly sophisticated display screen, all alight with small LEDs of various colors. "After I got the casing open, I found out that I knew this security system; I'll spare you the details, but what we're dealing with is that the school has motion sensors inside that'll trigger an alarm if they go off. You can't even go inside unless I stay here and keep them all from going berserk."

"How are you going to do that?"

"My trusty rusty laptop has a program that should mess it up; but as I need to stay out here and keep tabs on it, you'll be on your own."

"Really?"

"Don't worry; you all have the earpieces, remember?"

"All right! Red Dragon is ready for action!" Meiling was not waiting for any more explanations.

"Wait!" Nitori hissed with a sharp left hand as she opened the laptop with the other. "You should know that such an act would compromise 'Red Dragon' and the mission. Just let me turn this stuff off and you can get inside."

"Okay…I'll wait…even more…"

After some time that was needed for Nitori to turn on the laptop, connect it to the security system, and ultimately execute the program, the lights present on the system itself, from the display's to the lights elsewhere, instantly went dark. "All right, you're good to go. Just make sure you all have your earpieces on, don't forget your night-vision goggles, and let's find that clarinet."

The sunlight's supply had lessened to a few stray beams, and it wasn't as if the amount could illuminate much past the windows surrounding the large room containing the shoe lockers; anywhere beyond that would give necessity to the rather massive goggles they each had in possession. As they entered, Remilia noticed her sister looking around pensively.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm looking for my shoe locker; you should, too."

"Flandre, I really think that's the least of our worries right now."

"But we need to change our shoes!"

"We can't waste time looking for your locker. And what about those two? They don't even have school shoes."

As she pointed to Meiling and Marisa, the former was doing all sorts of karate and finger-gun motions in a rapid succession, while the latter actually gave a reply.

"She's right, Flandre. Let's just skip this and go on."

"Okay…"

As mentioned before, the hallways and stairs were almost devoid of light, forcing them to put the goggles on.

"Wow…" Meiling proclaimed, "I can finally see in the dark…I should take these back to the mansion for night watch…"

Meiling's earpiece believed differently. "Excuse me...Red Dragon…I should note that Master Blue needs a full inventory after this is done, so don't steal my stuff."

"…fine…"

Meanwhile, Flandre couldn't get her goggles on effectively. "Remi…can you help me with mine?"

"Okay, let me just…there; can you see now?"

"Yes…thank you…"

"So," Marisa asked while still trying to get her pair on, "Where did you leave the clarinet, Flandre?"

"I left it in my desk."

"Okay, so where's the classroom?"

"…"

Remilia decided to help out, channeling Nitori's previous speech about the roles. "Flandre, just relax and think: where do we go to class? Just think like it's morning. We just got here and we need to get to our room. Where is it?"

"It…we need to go upstairs."

"Okay. Let's do that. There's no difference. Everything just looks green. That's all."

As they moved slowly, trying to acclimate to the heavy night vision gear, they couldn't help themselves from being slightly on edge as they walked up the stairs; even though there was nothing scary present, it must be said that there were only two sounds with them: their footsteps and their breaths. As is often true, the mind does not remain still with such unyielding silence. Remilia and Flandre were tense, Meiling was glued to the walls, and crouching before the top of the stairwell in front, and Marisa was trailing behind, showing no amount of concern.

"Okay, we're at the second floor now. Let's…where are you going?"

Flandre had, contrary to what she had said before, began the trip up another flight. "Now that I think about it, don't you think the class is on the third floor?"

"No, that's where the upper grades go. This is our floor."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Yes. We go to the second floor every day, Flandre."

"Really? Sorry, I just follow you, so…"

It was becoming apparent that Remilia was the one who needed to find the classroom; while wearing Nitori's goggles did improve her vision, it also made certain components of the hall in which they were walking pixelated, and therefore, aspects like the classroom numbers and the other signage were harder to piece apart.

"…Nito-…I mean…'Master Blue'…can you hear me?"

"Scarlet One, I can hear everything you all say; it's not like there's a button you need to press or anything."

Remilia faltered, due to her code name being said to her as if it was her actual name. "These goggles are making things a bit fuzzy; is there something I can do about that?"

"Actually…yes, I should have told you about the little knob on the right side of the frame; if you move that, it'll adjust the focus."

Remilia found the knob and turned it, which made the pixelation even worse. "Now I can't see at all."

"You turned it the other way. You need to-"

While Nitori was telling her about adjusting the knob, she was sitting by her laptop with the program active, keeping the security system at bay. The adventurers had no issues to deal with, until the horrific scream that knocked Nitori to the ground, threw the laptop towards an opposing side, and brought the kappa closer to total hearing loss became the first issue. "What happened up there?! Is everybody all right?!" She could only hear unintelligible yelling and other such manners of speech from the anguished voices assaulting her earpiece. "What is going on?! Someone answer me!"

Nitori, finally, got a response, but it was from Marisa.

"…yeah, this is Yellow Spark. That was my bad. Sorry."

"What did you do?!"

"…I…you see…I was staring at Remilia…from about…right in front of her."

"…why would you ever want to do that?"

"…I was bored and I wanted to liven things up a bit."

"…well, I must tell you that your little stunt, to be kind, could have yanked the cord off the laptop, which would reactivate the system and then the alarm."

"I'm sorry…"

"Just count yourselves. Are you all there?"

"Let's see…I'm here, so…Red Dragon?"

"Here!"

"Master Blue?"

"…we just spoke to one another, you idiot."

"Scarlet One?"

"…I am still here."

"And…Scarlet Two. Scarlet Two…Flandre?"

The silence after Marisa served as austere validation to the members that Flandre was missing.


	5. Escape

"It's not my fault that Remilia couldn't figure out the knob!"

"Don't give me that; you scared me half to death, and now Flandre is gone!"

"I didn't know she was going to run away!"

"Who wouldn't?! Who would stay in one place after hearing someone scream?!"

"Me!"

Nitori, hearing every charged word of their arguing, decided to step in, but for another reason besides quieting them down. "Everyone, before this gets worse than it already is, I really, really think that you should find Flandre, on the double."

"Why?"

"…because I…didn't charge my laptop all the way from the last time I was near an outlet."

"…what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that you need to find Flandre and the clarinet as soon as possible, as I'm looking at a 30% battery right now, and I shouldn't have to tell you how much power it takes to hack into a security system."

Remilia turned to her team, as they stood by her in the darkness, all in complete awareness of the burden that was just placed upon them.

Whether Marisa was trying to make up for what she did, or just saying the first idea she had so she could put it into action and get out of there, she posited a proposal. "How about we split up? I go one way, and Remilia can go with Meiling another way."

Remilia had an opposing idea. "No…let's just be quiet."

"What? Why?"

"There's no one else here. Knowing Flandre, she'll start yelling 'Remi! Remi!' if she's alone; this happened when we got separated at the last Tanabata festival, and if I can hear her whining in a sea of people, I can hear her in an empty building. Let's just stay here and listen."

They all silenced themselves, listening for Flandre; Marisa was the last to do this, and only followed suit after becoming aware that the other two had turned down her plan. Flandre could not be heard, and if there were any audible sounds, they were too quiet to be discerned past their breathing.

"…I can't be the only one who heard that," Marisa whispered.

"What?"

"I…I heard some rustling. Don't you hear it?"

Remilia listened again. "I don't hear anything."

"Wait for it to start up again."

Following a few seconds, they could indeed hear something.

Marisa, contrary to how Nitori defined her as an invincible force against ghosts, was acting quite unlike the description, and was instead a very scared and nervous wreck. "I don't like this…"

"Oh, come on."

"Remilia? Where are you-"

"I'm going to the classroom."

"Why?"

"Because that's where the rustling seems to be coming from."

"But…no…wait! Don't leave me here!"

Remilia made sure to look back at Marisa and Meiling for a while, seeing them cowering and huddled together after hearing the rustling, which was becoming louder and more erratic. The simple truth? Remilia had lost her ability to care about anything that could ever hope bother them, with her confidence from seeing their fear and her acclimation to the situation begetting such a carefree outlook; her sister was missing, that rustling could be her, and finding her real sister took precedence above being attacked by an imagined danger.

Just as Remilia predicted, the rustling was coming from their classroom, which they found after realizing that they went too far on account of the goggles' focus knobs; now that she had the knob at the right level, she could easily see Flandre rummaging throughout her desk. She didn't see that this was done frantically, and with tears. "Flandre! We found you! Thank goodness! We're here!"

"Remi…"

"What?"

"…I…need to tell you something…"

"What is it?"

"…"

"You can tell me. What is it?"

"Remi…remember when I was telling you I beat Cirno at the card game on the way back home?"

"…yes, but what does that have to-"

"You left after finishing lunch, so you need to hear the whole story: Cirno asked me to lend her some money. I said 'No', and she wouldn't leave me alone; I told her Sakuya gives me an allowance, and I shouldn't give my allowance to anyone. We played some card game with a bunch of colors and a weird name that I've never heard of before, and I won."

"But what does that have to do with the clarinet?"

"Cirno thought I cheated because I never played it before, and I just told her I was good at card games, and she shouldn't challenge me over a card game again. But she took my clarinet!"

"Cirno took the clarinet? She has it?"

"And I was chasing her around the room! She wouldn't give it back! Finally, she tripped and fell down and I grabbed it from her. But I could see Sensei by the door, and I didn't want her to think I pushed her down or anything, so I ran back to my desk as fast as I could, and I got to my seat just as she saw Cirno getting back up, and I…"

"What?"

"…I…"

"What? What did you-"

"I put the clarinet in my backpack."

"Where is your backpack?"

"…in…my room…"

Such a bleak revelation was oddly fitting; the epiphany, the setting, and themselves were alike in somber and sobering emptiness. Of course, Flandre had been mistaken in regards to where the clarinet actually was, when one considers how the rapid succession of the victory against Cirno, and then the chase after the ice fairy, and next the sprint back to her desk to avoid Keine's fervent hakutaku-based ire, and then, finally, the maintenance of a calm facade, can distract her mind from simple tasks, such as putting a clarinet into a backpack, and later form an ultimately false belief that would cause Flandre, her sister, and Meiling to leave the mansion and get help from Marisa and Nitori, so they can infiltrate a school for no reason at all.

Remilia was about to prove Nitori wrong. "You what?!"

"Remi…"

"No! Don't give me that! We didn't have to do any of this! I could have just walked down to your room and go 'Oh! Here's your clarinet! It was in your backpack the whole time!' so we could've just stayed home!"

"I'm sorry!"

"No, I should be sorry! I was the idiot! If I had half a brain, I would've checked your backpack first! Just like when you forget your pencil! Just like when you forget your textbooks and your homework and everything!"

"Remi, please-"

"No! I'm not going to do that! I can't! I'm not going to be able to sleep at all! I'm not going to ace this stupid clarinet test! Who doesn't keep their supplies organized?! It's like I need to help you with everything! If I wasn't here to do everything for you, you wouldn't pass anything! I shouldn't have even bothered with this, because nothing will ever change for the better and I'll have to do your share of work for all eternity no matter what!"

"…"

"And who schedules a test on a Friday?! No one's going to do good anyway!"

Perhaps Flandre should've been thankful for the piercing alarm that sounded throughout, as it wasn't likely that Remilia was going to stop anytime soon.

"What is that?! Nitori!"

"Unfortunately, that is what happens when you don't charge your laptop all the way; you better get out now."

"What do we do?!"

"What do mean, 'What do we do?!', just get out!"

"But I…I don't…where did we-"

Marisa was unlike the rest of them, as she was only one who wasn't freaking out. "Hang on, I got this."

"What are you doing?!"

"I'm calling Reimu."

"What's she going to do?!"

"It's Yukari Day."

"…Yukari Day?"

Yukari Day: that unfortunate day of the week for Reimu, which takes place every Thursday. Reimu gave it such a name, as this is when Yukari stops by to visit, annoy her with pointless questions, complain about how Ran doesn't do anything right and only cares about Chen, drink far too much to mention, and ultimately pass out while Reimu makes up for the time that Yukari wasted by her self-imposing visit.

Reimu, who was, of course, asleep, woke up to Marisa's phone call. "…hello?"

"Hey! Um…what's going on?"

"…well, I was sleeping. 'Was' is the key word here."

"So…yeah, I'm kind of in a jam here."

"I can hear that. Aren't you always in some sort of jam?"

"…anyways, is Yukari there?"

"Yes."

"Fantastic! I need you to get her to open a portal for us."

"Why?"

"No time to explain, just do it."

"I don't see why I should go to the trouble of waking her up; once she's out, I pretty much need to drop an AC unit on her head to wake her up."

"…I'll owe you one. How about that?"

"Well, I'm still waiting on the return for the other 'I'll owe you one', and the other one, and the one before that, and the other few hundred, so…"

"Reimu, you stupid, idiotic, poor, destitute of a miko, if you don't get Yukari to make a portal, I swear that I'm going to do something so bad and so terrible to you!"

"Like what? Like there's anything you can-"

"I won't take you out to Korean barbecue anymore."

"I'll wake her up. Just one minute, please."

"Thank you." She hung up. "Idiot."

"So what was that?!"

"Well, Remilia, we should be seeing a portal soon; we'll jump in it and get out of here."

"What about Nitori?!"

"She's on her own."

After only a few seconds, they could see an open space by a corner of the room spiral into itself, before forming the portal that would ensure them a speedy exit.

"All right, everyone! Let's go!"

Following Marisa in a line, they ran into the portal and came out on the other side. Unfortunately, this other side was far from an ideal location.

Perhaps as a cruel joke from Yukari, the portal led them to Sakuya's bedroom. Considering that they were panting and wearing Nitori's night vision gear, especially with the portal still leaking the alarm before closing up, how could Sakuya not be staring at them, her slumber interrupted?

"Sakuya…" Marisa began in a scary (but not really) voice, "You are dreaming now…go back to bed…you are looking at…versions of people you happen to know…from an alternate universe…that never sees the light of day-"

"I don't care."

"You what?"

"I don't care. I don't know how you got in here. I don't know why you all have that tactical, military headwear. I don't know why Marisa's with you. I don't know where you were that, just guessing off the top of my head, wasn't the convenience store. But Remilia and Flandre are here, and they're not hurt, so I don't care about…any of this nonsense. Whatever."

And with that last word to conclude the apathy, she went back to bed.

They were all, understandably, bewildered. As if by some telepathic agreement, Remilia and Flandre left her room, leaving Marisa and Meiling standing there, wondering why Sakuya didn't care whether or not the latter pair were injured.

Remilia walked to the dining room, and was further bewildered by seeing it immaculately shiny, reflective from the absence of dust, and completely free of disorder, as every plate and glass had been put away. It was better than what it looked like after Sakuya cleaned it, even. "Patchouli?"

"Oh! Remilia! What are you doing here?!"

"You look terrible."

The labor needed to clean had eroded Patchouli into a more faded and disoriented version of herself.

"I was just cleaning…just cleaning…"

"Where's Koakuma?"

"Oh! She's over there! Just resting!"

If Koakuma really was "resting", then one should be taking a nap face down on any given hard surface, such as a kitchen floor as is the case here, with their limbs splayed about, and twitching occasionally.

"Is she dead?"

"Oh no, just taking a break!"

After that, Patchouli tripped over her own flustered weariness, which sent her to the floor with a mortifying thud.

"…well, I'm going to bed. Flandre? What about you?"

She turned back to notice that Flandre had not followed her to the kitchen; she must've went to the basement already. At that point, with the force of a runaway train, the lambasting of her own sister struck her with absolute reality.


	6. Results

With brevity being an imperative, the following is Flandre's routine for school mornings: she is to awaken to Remilia's voice, as she bears the rather unfortunate habit of destroying alarm clocks; despite the Scarlets' affluence, Sakuya had no remaining interest in acquiring another such clock after, say, the one hundred fifty-seventh trip to their nearest home furnishing store, which thereby transferred that mantle from the expired clocks and onto Remilia. Another source, namely the scents from Sakuya's oeuvre of breakfasts, is a viable option, because she can craft quite a mean omelette; but never mind these possibilities, as this Friday's morning was different.

She woke up on her own. The only difference was that this awakening was more feverish, as though everything from the night before poisoned her slumber to its last breath and thought; her usual happiness for the morning was absent, along with her zeal for the day to be, and as such, it was all that she could do to gaze upwards to her now most unfamiliar ceiling. The need to get ready for school was what forced her from bed and upstairs to what Sakuya had prepared for them.

Upon her approach towards the table, only Remilia and Patchouli were seated, with Sakuya away at the kitchen performing some unknown-to-them manner of work; this contrasted the usual scene of Flandre being the final member to their first repast, as the sister of the devil was oftentimes fighting the wish which many call by the name "five more minutes", even when ascending the stairs from her bed. Remilia was aware of her sister, and ready to speak. Patchouli, meanwhile, was seemingly without any noticeable signs which would lead one to believe that she was alive in any of its lexical senses, when one considers her being slumped against her chair, similar to how a towel or another such piece of fabric would accomplish the same task.

"Flandre?"

"…Remi?"

"I have some good news, and some bad; which would you like to hear first?"

"…the bad."

"You remember that I was talking to Chen while you and Cirno were playing that card game, right? We had some weekend plans and all that."

"Yes."

"Well, Sakuya cancelled it; we're all grounded now."

"…even Patchouli? And Meiling and-"

"You got it; Sakuya says that everyone is grounded."

"Is Patchouli going to care? She never leaves the house anyway."

"Well, she can't get into the library, Flandre; Sakuya locked it up, and all of her RPG and computer stuff is in there." Patchouli's inert posture was now justified.

"…will she be able to make it through the day?"

"In any event, the good news is that they cancelled school for the day. We've got a three-day weekend."

"Really?"

"I guess our break-in and the alarm going off did that."

"..."

"And Saku-…I mean…I'm going to help you practice the song."

"…really?"

"Since we're grounded, I'm going to help you until you master it. That is our plan for the weekend."

"But…I…"

"Flandre, I know what I said hurt you. It was horrible for me to say those things. I figured we'll start after breakfast, and we won't stop until you can play it perfectly for Keine next Monday."

"But…I thought that you didn't want to help me…"

It was then that Sakuya spoke from the kitchen with words as freshly sharpened as her myriad of knives. "Trust me, Flandre. Remilia is going to help you; if she gets tired of it, I'll see to it that she'll snap out of that immediately."

"…you see? It's a foolproof plan." Remilia's speech here was natural on the surface, but an acute ear could decipher the coercion from Sakuya; their two smiles were indeed genuine, but Remilia's was also stilted to a slight degree, and even though the following wasn't true, Remilia appeared in a manner suggesting that Sakuya had placed a knife behind the former to get the proposition out, despite these two being a fair distance apart.

"…are you sure, Remi?"

"Yes, Flandre, I'm sure."

"…"

"What do you say?"

Any hope that could have been was dashed: Flandre's eyes were transfixed on the patterns of their kitchen floor, and to further advance the result, she gave no verbal reply. This attempt to resolve was only to remain an attempt, for Flandre sullenly departed.

"Flandre! Please, I-"

Sakuya had arrived for Remilia. "It seems like you need more time to convince her."

"But what else can I do? I apologized, and-"

"I don't recall hearing an 'I'm sorry' in your apology."

"…"

"Well, here's how I see it: you have three days to change her mind and get the clarinet practice done. Let's just eat for now."

"…okay."

"And another thing, Remilia?"

"Yes?"

"I wouldn't worry too much. She'll get hungry and come back. You'll get another chance."

"…"

"Let's just enjoy your meal, all right? There's no point in trying to change something that happened in the past."

And with that, Sakuya placed the omelette for Remilia.

While Patchouli had received hers similarly, she would be without her library, and by extension her computer, for three days; her omelette would probably be uneaten, given that the one-week girl could only muster a scarcely audible and frail "mukyuu", which by induction entails any chances of eating or even reaching for the utensils to remain infeasible efforts.

What Sakuya had said was the only weapon that Remilia could utilize to fight her own regrets, and this remedy appeared so arduous at its face value. She could not enjoy the food before her. She wanted to return to that classroom and stop her riled impulse from ever saying such caustic words. She wanted to descend to her sister and apologize more evidently. Despite her desperation and resistance against the path, it could never be untraveled, and only Remilia could be obligated in traversing to its end.

As her thought eventually arrived to this same conclusion, there was a faint and yet certain outcome in the form of the pair reconciling; thereafter, Remilia noticed that this morning's omelette was attaining more flavor with each passing bite.


End file.
